Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-12-24
a beauty so enhancing and divine. and

q beauty so enhancing and divine. and
when first | gszed upon it, illumined and
Shadowed as it was by the soft light of the
moon, my breath stood still, and for an in
slant my heart ceased its beating.
The statue was hewn from marble so
| pure and white, that even now after all
those ages, IL shone as the mOonbeamS
danced upon il, and ito height was, | should
say. a tritie under twenty feet. 1t was the
| winged figure of n woman OF such marvel
Gus %loveliness and d~elicacy Of form that
the size seemed rather TO add than 10 de-
tract from its SO human and yet more
spiritual beauty. She was bending FOR
ward, and posing herself upon her half
spread wings rs though to preserve her
balance as she leant. Her arms were out
stretched, like those OF some woman about
to embrace one she dearly loved, while her
whole attitude gave an impression OF the
tenderest beseeching. Her perfect and
most gracious form was nude, save-and
here came the extraordinary t~hing-the
face, which was thinly yelled, so that we
could only trace the marking of her fea-
lures. a gauZy veil was thrown round
and about the head, and Of its two ends,
one fell down across her left breast, which
was outlined beneath it, and one. now
broken, streamed away upon the air be-
hind il.
"What is shey" I asked, az soon as j
could take my eyes off the statue.
"Canst thou not guess, oh, HollyE' an
swered Ayesha. Where, then. is thy i'm
imagination? 1t il Truth standing on the
World, and calling TO its children To unveil
her face. See what is writ upon the pedes-
tai. Without doubt it is taken from the
book Of the scriptures OF these men OF
kor," and she led the way to the foot OF
the statue, where an inscription of the US
ual Ca~ineSe-looking hieroglyphics was so
deeply craven rs TO be still quite legible, at
least TO Ayesha. According TO her trans
lation 1t ran thus:
as there no man that will draw my veil and
look upon my taceY for it is very fair. Unto
him who draws my voll shall | be, and peace
will ] give him, and sweet children OF knoWl-
edge and good works.
"And n voice said, Though all those who
| seek after thee desire thee, behold. Virgin art
thou, and Virgin shall thou go till Time be
done. No man Is there born Of woman who
NAV draw thy veil and live. nor shall be. In
death only can thy veil be drawn. o Truth
And truth stretched out her arms and wept.
because those who sought her might not find
her, nor look upon her face to face
"Thou ~seest," said Ayesha, when she
finished translating, Truth was the God
! dess Of the people Of old kor, and TO her
they built their %shrines, and her they
sought; knowing that they should never
| find. still sought they"
"And So" | added, sadly, "do men seek
10 this very hour, but they find not; and rs
this scripture says, nor shall they; for III
Death only is Truth found"
Then, with one more look at the yelled
and sp~iritualized loveliness, which was so
perfect and SO pure that one might almost
fancy that the light of q living spirit shone
through the marble prison TO lead man on
10 high ethereal thoughtS-thlS poets
dream of beauty frozen into stone, which |
never shall forget while | live, though l
find myself SO helpless when | attempt to
describe it. we turned and went back
through the vast mo0nlit courts to the spot
whence we had started. l never saw the
statue again, which | the more regret be
cause on the great ball Of stone represent
ing the world whereon the figure stood
lines were drawn, that probably, had there
been light enough, we should have discov-
cred to be a map OF the universe as it was
known to the people Of Kor. 1t is at any
rate suggestive OF some ancient knowledge
that these ancient worshipers of Truth had
recognized the fact That the globe is round.